Australian Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd is facing calls for his resignation after a number of derogatory comments about him resurfaced, raising concerns about his ability to work with the president-elect.
Mr Rudd has called Mr Trump “the most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West” in previous tweets, and a “village idiot” and “incompetent” in a 2021 video interview exposed by Sky News.
“The most destructive president in history. He is dragging America and democracy into a quagmire. “He is better at stirring up divisions than healing them,” Rudd said in June 2020. wrote to X. “He abuses Christianity, the church and the Bible to justify violence.”
Rudd quickly deleted previous tweets insulting Trump last week, shortly after the Republican Party became likely to win the race against Vice President Kamala Harris.
But Australian officials, particularly concerned about Trump’s proposed 10% tariffs, fear the damage has already been done – Rudd’s insults This could have a negative impact on U.S. relations.
“Loose-mouthed Rudd is so arrogant that he actually thinks he can walk back every insult ever made about Trump and get away with it,” Knightly Editor-in-Chief Christopher Doerr wrote in an op-ed on Sunday. I wrote it.
“It’s ridiculous to even think about keeping Kevin Rudd in Washington as ambassador to the United States,” Doerr argued.
Michael Kroger, former leader of Australia’s Victorian Liberal Party and frequent conservative commentator, said Mr Rudd should resign in the best interest of the country.
“Kevin Rudd knows Australia’s best interests will not be served by a fierce critic of our ambassador in Washington, Donald Trump,” he told the Herald Sun. “In Australia’s national interest, Mr Rudd needs to submit a power of attorney to the prime minister, who needs to appoint a more diplomatic ambassador.”
Former Foreign Secretary Alexander Downer told the magazine that Mr Rudd’s criticism of the next US president had made his job incredibly difficult.
Mr Downer, who also served as Australia’s ambassador to the UK, said: “Kevin Rudd, it may be hard to believe, but you may feel that he cares more about Kevin Rudd than about Donald Trump’s future.” ” he said.
President Trump previously said he did not expect Mr Rudd to remain in the role for this long when he was informed of the ambassador’s insulting tweets during an interview with GB News earlier this year.
“If he does, he won’t be there for long,” President Trump said at the time. “I don’t know much about him, but I hear he was a bit of a mean guy. I hear he’s not the brightest light bulb… If he’s got any animosity, he’s not going to be around for a long time.” It won’t be there.”
Mr Rudd said his past criticism of Mr Trump was made when he was head of an independent US-based think tank, a role that included regular comments on US politics in his statements. I tried to claim that it was.
He said he deleted the tweet “out of respect.”
“Out of respect for the office of the President of the United States and following the election of President Trump, Ambassador Rudd has removed these past commentaries from his personal website and social media channels,” his statement continued. “This was done to eliminate the possibility that such comments could be misconstrued as reflecting the views of the ambassador and, by extension, the Australian government.
“Ambassador Rudd looks forward to working with President Trump and his team to continue to strengthen the US-Australia alliance.”
Rudd is not the only person who has suffered badly from Trump’s abuse.
In 2019, when Trump was the first president, Kim Darroch, the British ambassador to the United States, faced backlash after comments calling Trump “incompetent,” “unstable,” and “incompetent” were leaked to the press.
According to The Spectator, President Trump called Darroch an “arrogant idiot” and tweeted that he would “no longer do business with him.” Darroch left Washington immediately after the scandal.
British Foreign Secretary David Lamy has also called Republicans “deceitful, dishonest, xenophobic and narcissistic” and “sociopaths with neo-Nazi sympathies” in past statements, The Guardian reported. Reported.
Mr Lammy put aside his past criticisms in a BBC podcast appearance last week, saying he was “hard to find” a politician who hasn’t said “some pretty mature things” about Mr Trump.
